Sequential decisions in the control of a space-ship (finite fuel)

Abstract

This paper is a sequel to [1] and considers a more realistic formulation of the same question: that of finding an optimal policy for controlling the path of a space-ship as it moves towards its target. The difference here is that we no longer suppose there is an infinite quantity of fuel, always available at a fixed price, for modifying the current direction of motion. This complicates the problem of reducing the final miss distance, by introducing an extra variable. As before, we shall be particularly concerned to find a control procedure which always minimizes the mean square terminal miss. From the theoretical point of view we are also interested to see whether the techniques used to approximate the optimal policy can be extended, and how far we shall be forced to adopt a new approach. Results are derived which provide bounds on the form of the optimal policy. The derivation depends on a comparison technique whose validity is intuitively obvious, but which is still only a conjecture. However, further confirmation is obtained in the quadratic case from asymptotic expansions giving the form of the solution both when the space-ship is far away from its target and during its final approach.